Coleman has had only a handful of training sessions to work with his new squad but the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa suggested a more patient, possession-based approach.

The former Wales boss has admitted that was a deliberate ploy and Matthews believes it will lead to much improved results for the Black Cats.

He told safc.com: "He hasn’t been here long so it has been hard to have the impact that he wants to have. The short time he’s had with us I think you can see, he’s changed the way we play completely, we look a lot more organised. We didn’t get the result but I thought the performance and the way we played with the ball in particular was a lot better.

"On the ball it was the best we’ve looked this season, he’ll bring his own philosophy and help us get out the bottom three.

"Not many teams will go to Villa Park and keep the ball the way we did, if we keep improving and the manager gets his gameplan across I’m sure we’ll be fine."

The 25-year-old has finally established himself in the first team picture at the Stadium of Light this season and while pleased to be back in the fold, Matthews insists that his team must improve defensively ahead of a crucial clash against Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium

He said: "My first two seasons at Sunderland, we’d better not talk about them! It is massive club and a great club to play for, personally it is going well but hopefully we can turn the results around.

If [Lewis] Grabban keeps scoring he’ll keep us in the league. If we can tighten up at the back, we can’t keep conceding two or three goals and expect to win, hopefully we can put that right against Burton, they’ll make it difficult for us but we’re confident that with a couple of days with the manager we can get the result we want.